J. R. "Bob" Dobbs
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Bobdobbs.jpg
J. R. "Bob" Dobbs is the pipe-smoking figurehead of the Church of the SubGenius. His image is derived from a piece of 1950s clip-art. According to SubGenius dogma, "Bob" was a drilling equipment salesman in the 1950s who saw a vision of God on a television set he had built himself. The vision inspired him to write the "PreScriptures" (as described in the Book of the SubGenius) and found the Church. "Bob" has been credited by Church members as being the greatest salesman who ever lived, and he has apparently cheated death itself a number of times. He was assassinated in San Francisco in 1984, though the Church states that he has come back from the dead several times since then.
The quotation marks in "Bob's" name are always included when spelling his name, according to the Church.
"Bob's" image first appeared in the original SubGenius publication, SubGenius Pamphlet #1 (a.k.a. "The World Ends Tomorrow And You May Die") (1980). Since his initial appearance, his face has appeared in numerous places around the world, and it has made cameo appearances on everything from graffiti art on highway overpasses, to musical albums by many underground bands (and several popular mainstream rock bands, ranging from Devo to Sublime) and the occasional movie (see The Wizard of Speed and Time) and TV appearance (Pee-wee's Playhouse). The Church of the SubGenius maintains the trademark and copyright on "Bob's" image, though it has tried to avoid taking legal action unless absolutely necessary.
In its January 1, 2000 issue, a Time magazine poll named J.R. "Bob" Dobbs the #1 "Phoney Or Fraud" of the 20th century. This was an Internet-based poll, in which Geraldo Rivera was named #2 on the list of frauds. [1] (http://www.modemac.com/media2/2000_time-magazine_1-1-00.html)
"Bob's" image is commonly seen on the Usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.slack, where he appears regularly in images by many artists. Proper etiquette on the newsgroup dictates that credit be given where it is due, and acknowledgement of the ownership of "Bob's" image by the Church is accepted by the regular newsgroup participants.